Interferometric JFTOT tube deposit measuring device

Abstract

Jet fuels are tested for thermal stability by passing the fuel over a hea metal tube and measuring the amount of residue deposited as a film on the tube as a result of chemical changes to the fuel. The thickness distribution and volume of a deposited film on a tube are calculated by scanning the length of the tube with an optical probe, shining light onto the tube, measuring the intensity of reflected light of a preselected wavelength from the tube, and correlating the reflected light intensity with positions on the tube. The tube is then partially rotated, and the process is repeated until the entire surface of the tube is scanned. The volumes of each longitudinal slice of the tube are summed to give the total deposit volume on the tube.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an improved device and process for measuring the thickness of thermal film deposits on JFTOT tubes, and more particularly to such a device and process using a computer controlled interferometer.

2. Description of the Related Art

Jet fuels undergo chemical changes when subjected to thermal stress, changes that can affect the performance of these fuels. Modern aircraft designs place thermal stress on fuels from a number of sources, such as heating from the engines and frictional heating from the wing surfaces. Consequently, there is an ongoing effort to develop thermally stable jet fuels and to characterize the thermal stability of available jet fuels.

The Jet Fuel Thermal Oxidation Test (JFTOT) is widely used in this effort. In this test, the fuel is passed over a heated metal tube under conditions of limited oxygen availability. The thermal stability of the fuel is characterized by the quantity of insoluble reaction products formed. When this test is performed in accordance with ASTM D3241, the total quantity of insoluble products formed is determined by measuring the amount of insoluble products adhereing to the outside of the heated tube (determined by comparing the color of the tube deposits to standard color charts) and the amount of particulate insoluble products in the fuel (determined by measuring the pressure drop across an in-line filter during the test).

Most fuels fail on the basis of tube deposits. Unfortunately, most of the uncertainty in the test method is attributable to the uncertainty in the measurement of tube deposits. The standard color comparison charts have proven to be quantitatively unreliable.

To increase the reliability of the test, the tube deposit rater (TDR) method was developed to measure tube deposits more accurately. In this method, the attenuation of reflected white light, measured by a photocell, is correlated to the deposit thickness. TDR eliminates the subjectivity inherent in the color chart comparisons, but the method can be compromised by variations in the optical properties of the deposit. Neither TDR nor color chart comparisons correlate well with deposit carbon content determined by combustion.

Other interferometric devices that can measure the deposit thickness on the tube are known. These devices use manual positioning of the probe along the length of the tube. There are several inherent problems with these devices.

One problem with these manual devices is the inability of an operator to position the probe along the tube with accuracy and repeatability. Another problem is that these devices are not equipped for rotating the tube to perform scans about the entire circumference of the tube. Without means for rotating the tube, and without means for positioning the probe relative to the tube with accuracy and repeatability, it is impossible to get accurate information on the radial distribution of a deposit on the tube. As will be shown below, the thermal deposits on JFTOT tubes can show significant radial asymmetry.

Moreover, these devices, because they rely on the human hand to position the probe, may miss significant features of the longitudinal distribution of the deposit on the tube. As will be shown below, significant deposit thickness variations can be found within a very few millimeters along the length of the tube.

Another disadvantage of these manual devices is that they lack an automated system for identifying peaks in the light intensity data, and computing deposit thickness and volume from this data. This lack of automated control and analysis increases the time and tedium inherent in measuring thermal deposits on JFTOT tubes.

Darrah et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,410, describes such a manual interferometer, and is incorporated by reference herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to increase the accuracy of interferometric devices that measure thermal deposits on JFTOT heater tubes, so that the accuracy of these devices correlates well with deposit carbon content determined by combustion.

It is a further object of this invention to measure thermal deposits on JFTOT tubes to provide detailed information on both the radial and longitudinal distribution of deposits on these tubes.

It is a further object of this invention to precisely position an interferometric probe to improve the accuracy and repeatability of interferometric measurements of deposits on these tubes.

These and additional objects of the invention are accomplished by the structures and processes hereinafter described.

The Interferometric JFTOT Tube Deposit Measuring Device comprises an optical probe optically coupled to a light source and to a detector of reflected light, means for translating the optical probe along the length of the tube with accuracy and repeatability, means for rotating the tube with accuracy and repeatability, and means for calculating the deposit thickness profile and total deposit volume on the tube.

The means for calculating are coupled to the detector of reflected light, to use reflected light intensity data in calculating the deposit thickness profile and total deposit volume. The means for calculating are also coupled to the means for translating and the means for rotating, to use accurate data on the longitudinal position of the probe relative to the tube and on the rotational position of the tube in calculating the deposit thickness profile and total deposit volume.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the invention will be readily obtained by reference to the following Description of the Preferred Embodiments and the accompanying drawings in which like numerals in different figures represent the same structures or elements, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a representative view of a preferred embodiment of the Interferometric JFTOT Tube Deposit Measuring Device apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a representative view of the paths of the interfering light paths reflected from the surfaces of the tube and the deposited film.

FIG. 3 shows reflected light intensities on a typical aluminum tube.

FIG. 4 shows the first derivative of reflected light intensity with respect to position on the tube.

FIG. 5 shows the moving average of reflected light intensities on a typical aluminum tube.

FIG. 6 shows the basic steps in the Interferometric JFTOT Tube Deposit Measuring Device control software.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a tube, showing typical slice designations for longitudinal scans of the tube.

FIG. 8 shows the results of an analysis on an aluminum JFTOT tube.

FIG. 9 shows the results of an analysis on a steel JFTOT tube.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As described above, and as shown in FIG. 1, the Interferometric JFTOT Tube Deposit Measuring Device 10 comprises an optical probe 12 optically coupled to a light source 14 and to a detector of reflected light 16, means for translating the optical probe 12 parallel to the long axis of the tube 22 with accuracy and repeatability, means for rotating the tube 22 with accuracy and repeatability, and means for calculating the deposit thickness profile and total deposit volume on the tube 22.

As described above, and as shown in FIG. 1, the means for calculating are electrically coupled to the detector of reflected light, to use reflected light intensity data from the detector in calculating the deposit thickness profile and total deposit volume. The means for calculating are also coupled to the means for translating and the means for rotating, to use accurate data on the longitudinal position of the probe relative to the tube and on the rotational position of the tube in calculating the deposit thickness profile and total deposit volume.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the optical probe 12 supports and positions relative to the tube 22 a fiber optic waveguide 30 disposed to transmit light from the source 14 onto the tube 22. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the optical probe 12 supports and positions relative to the tube 22 at least one fiber optic waveguide 32 disposed to receive light reflected from the tube and transmit this light to the detector 16.

In the most preferred embodiment, the probe 12 comprises a plurality of fiber optic waveguides 32 disposed to transmit light to the detector 16, arranged concentrically about the fiber optic waveguide 30 disposed to transmit light from the source 14, with all of these waveguides disposed in a sleeve.

Alternatively, a single fiber optic waveguide may be used both for transmitting light from the source 14 to the tube 22 and for transmitting light reflected from the tube 22 to the detector 16. In this embodiment of the invention, the single fiber would preferably be oriented essentially normal to the tube 22. Any of the general methods for combining and separating source and detector beams in a single fiber optic waveguide may be employed in this embodiment of the invention. These methods include using a bifurcated fiber or coupler which joins two fibers into one, using a partially reflecting mirror to split the source and reflected light, and using a spatial filter to separate the source and reflected light. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,689, issued Dec. 20, 1988 to Peterson, incorporated by reference herein.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the detector 16 comprises a phototransistor, a phototube, or a photomultiplier tube. The optical probe 12 preferably should be mounted so that the fiber optic waveguides 30, 32 connected to the source 14 and the detector 16 are aimed at the tube 22. It has been determined that no arrangement of lenses is needed to obtain accurate results, so long as the fiber optic waveguides are positioned with the waveguides connected to the detector in the path of reflected light from the source.

In a preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the means for translating the probe 12 comprises a stepper motor 18 linked to a zero-backlash leadscrew assembly 20. In a preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the means for rotating the tube 22 comprises another stepper motor 24. These stepper motors preferably are connected to the means for calculating, comprising a programmed digital computer 26, through one or more stepper motor drivers 19 for controlling the stepper motors so that accurate data on the longitudinal position of the probe 12 relative to the tube 22 and on the rotational position of the tube 22 may be used in calculating the deposit thickness profile and total deposit volume.

In operation, the optical probe 12 traverses the length of the tube 22. As the probe 12 moves along the tube 22, light from the source 14 shines onto the tube 22, and reflected light of a predetermined wavelength is detected by the detector 16. This can be carried out either by using an essentially monochromatic light source, or by filtering the reflected light to make it essentially monochromatic. The variations in the reflected light intensity are measured as the probe 12 scans across the tube 22. From these variations in the reflected light intensity, the deposit thickness profile along the length of the tube is calculated, as described below. From this deposit thickness profile, the volume of the tube deposit is computed by numerical integration.

After the length of the tube 22 is scanned, the tube 22 is partially rotated, and the scanning process is repeated. This translation and rotation cycle is repeated until the entire surface of the tube 22 has been scanned, i.e. until the tube has been rotated 360.degree.. The deposit volumes for each longitudinal slice of the tube are then summed to give the total deposit volume for the tube 22.

FIG. 2 illustrates the principle of interference that is used in this invention to measure deposit thickness. In this invention, source light impinges on the deposit surface at an angle .theta.. A portion of the source light is reflected back from the interface and a portion passes into the deposit. The light that passes into the deposit is reflected off the metal surface of the tube. The light reflected from the metal surface passes back out of the tube, where it interferes with the light reflected from the surface of the deposit.

Two effects are observed as the source light impinges on increasingly thick deposits (i.e. as the optical probe moves from areas of thin deposits to areas of thick deposits). The first effect is that as the path length of the light in the film changes, the measured interference pattern changes. When the difference between the two path lengths is equal to one-half the wavelength of the source light, the light reflected from the tube surface is completely out of phase with the light reflected from the film surface, and the two light paths interfere destructively. As the film thickens to where the path length difference is equal to one wavelength, the light reflected from the tube surace is perfectly in phase with the light reflected from the film surface, and the two light paths interfere constructively. Thus, as the film thickens, a regular cycle of maxima and minima (generically referred to as peaks) is observed in the intensity of the reflected light.

The other observed effect is the attenuation of the light passing through the deposit, according to Lambert's law. The net observed effect then, is a series of oscillations superimposed on a baseline which decreases as the deposit thickens and increases as the deposit thins. The thickness of the film is thus given by equation 1., ##EQU1## where m is an integer thickness multiplier related to the number of cycles in the reflected light intensity, .lambda. is the wavelength of the reflected light, n is the refractive index of the deposit, and .theta. is the angle of light incidence. A typical pattern of peaks 35 in the reflected light intensity on a JFTOT tube is shown in FIG. 3. The pattern of peaks 35 in FIG. 3 shows a series of oscillations superimposed on a baseline which is characteristic of a deposit on a tube that is thinner at the ends of the tube and thicker in the middle of the tube. By calculating the deposit thickness at each of the observed peaks in the reflected light intensity, and correlating these thicknesses with positions on the tube, the deposit thickness profile is determined.

The refractive index for a typical jet fuel deposit is 1.6; refractive indices may be determined for particular deposits by immersing the deposit in liquids of known, progressively higher refractive indices until no interference is observed. Errors from nonuniform refractive indices in films are observed to be within the limits of the errors of other methods.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the peaks 35 are recognized by analyzing the first derivative of the reflected light intensity, dI/dx 36, as shown in FIG. 4. At each point on the slice where the first derivative 36 goes above or below set thresholds 37, 38, this point is labelled as a possible peak 39. The possible peak widths, measured by the full-width-at-half-maximum method, are then compared to preset thresholds. If the possible peak 36 is neither too wide nor too narrow, it is labelled as a peak 35.

In a most preferred embodiment of the invention, an operator is prompted with the labelled peaks 35, and is able to add or remove labelled peaks.

For a typical jet fuel thermal deposit on a tube 22, the deposit 21 has a thickness of effectively zero at each end of the tube, and reaches a maximum thickness somewhere between the two ends. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, m, the integer thickness multiplier, will equal one at the first scanned peak on a slice, and will increase by one at each subsequent peak, until the deposit reaches its maximum thickness on that slice. Thereafter, m will decrease by one at each peak, until it reaches the last scanned peak on the slice.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the point of maximum deposit thickness on a slice of the tube is determined by computing a moving average 40 of the reflected light intensity, thereby smoothing the light intensity data. This is shown in FIG. 5. The minimum intensity point 42 on this smoothed curve is taken to be the point of maximum deposit thickness. Thus, m will be increasing from the first peak 44 to this point and decreasing from this point to the last peak 46.

In a most preferred embodiment, in the case where the peaks immediately on either side of the minimum intensity point 42 are further apart than a predetermined limit, m will be increasing from the first peak 44 to the peak immediately preceding the point of minimum intensity 48, where it will reach its maximum value. It (m) will keep this value for the next peak 50 (i.e. the peak immediately following the point of minimum intensity). For subsequent peaks, m will be decreasing. Thus, there will be two equal peaks of maximum deposit thickness on this slice of the tube.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 6 illustrates the preferred sequence of steps carried out by the computer system in measuring a deposit on a tube.

It has been determined that the deposit thickness distribution along the length of a stainless steel tube roughly follows a gaussian curve near the fuel inlet end of the tube and a parabolic curve near the fuel outlet end of the tube. The deposit thickness distribution along the length of an aluminum tube is more symmetrical, roughly following a parabolic curve at both ends of the tube. These distributions can be fit to a smooth curve using a cubic spline. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the calculated deposit thicknesses on each slice are fit to a cubic spline curve. It has been experimentally confirmed that deposit volumes computed using a cubic spline fit correlate well with deposit volumes computed by the total carbon combustion method.

The deposit volume is determined by making several longitudinal scans taken down the tube. As shown in FIG. 7, with d measurements taken around the circumference, an arcuate portion of the tube equal to 2.pi./d is defined as a slice. Given a deposit of thickness t (which will vary along the length of the tube) on a cylindrical tube of radius r and length L, the volume of the deposit is given by ##EQU2## where d is the number of scans taken around the tube circumference. Integrating over the specified limits, the volume of the slice is given by ##EQU3## For an area A under the thickness profile curve, A=Lt. Substituting t=A/L into (3) yields ##EQU4## The sum of the slice volumes is equal to the total deposit volume on the tube.

In a preferred embodiment, the invention operates at a wavelength that is short enough to provide good resolution, but long enough so that electronic absorptions of the incident light by the deposit are not observed. The preferred wavelength range is from about 300 nm to about 600 nm. Preferred light sources 14 for the optical system include filtered xenon arc lamps, filtered mercury lamps, lasers and light emitting diodes.

The most preferred wavelength is at about 460 nm, which corresponds to the shortest wavelength primary spectral line in the xenon spectrum. When the invention is operated at this wavelength, an inexpensive xenon arc lamp may be used as the light source 14.

Having described the invention, the following examples are given to illustrate specific applications of the invention, including the best mode now known to perform the invention. These specific examples are not intended to limit the scope of the invention described in this application.

EXAMPLES

Example 1

Analysis of a Deposit on a 60 mm Aluminum Tube

A 60 mm long aluminum JFTOT tube was inserted in an apparatus to thermally stress jet fuels according to ASTM D3241. A jet fuel was stressed according to this standard.

An IBM-compatible computer 26 with an Intel 80386 microprocessor was loaded with the BASIC language programs NRL-IMD.BAS, ANALYZER.BAS, SCANNER.BAS, and PRINTER.BAS. Listings of these programs are below.

A circuit board made by Metrabyte, model number DASH-16 25, was inserted into an empty slot in the computer 26. This board is an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). A phototransistor 16 was connected to an amplifying circuit that applied the appropriate voltage to the input for the ADC. The phototransistor 16 was positioned to receive light transmitted through detector fiber optic waveguides 32.

An Arrick Robotics Stepper Motor Kit Model MD-2 provides two stepper motors 18, 24, and a dual stepper motor driver 19. The input for the dual stepper motor driver from this kit was plugged into the LPT1 port of the computer 26. The driver outputs were plugged into the inputs for the two stepper motors from this kit. One of these stepper motors 23 was linked to a mounting assembly 27 for receiving the JFTOT tube 22; this stepper motor was used to rotate the tube. The other stepper motor 18 was linked to a leadscrew assembly table 20 manufactured by Techno, model number HL315BMZ181B. This leadscrew assembly table provides 2 mm of translation per rotation. The optical probe 12 was mounted on this leadscrew assembly 20.

A xenon arc lamp manufactured by PTI was used as the light source 14. The lamp was filtered so that only the principal line at 460 nm was transmitted through a source fiber optic waveguide 30 to the optical probe. The lamp was powered by a PTILPS200 Universal Power Supply and housed in a PTI A1000 Arc Lamp Housing. The entire apparatus, other than the computer, was mounted inside a box with a hinged lid, to reduce the amount of stray light in the system.

The aluminum JFTOT tube 22 with the thermal deposit 21 was mounted in the apparatus. The computer programs were run. Eight evenly-spaced scans were performed about the circumference of the tube. The results are graphically shown in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 8, the deposit thickness reached a maximum thickness of about 0.48 .mu.m on slice 1 at about 43 mm down the length of the tube. At this same distance down the tube, slices 3 through 6 only showed a maximum thickness of about 0.40 .mu.m.

Example 2

Analysis of a Deposit on a Steel Tube

A steel JFTOT tube was inserted in an apparatus to thermally stress jet fuels. A jet fuel was stressed essentially according to this standard, the sole deviation from the standard being the use of the steel tube instead of a 60 mm aluminum tube. The steel JFTOT tube 22 with the thermal deposit 21 was mounted in the apparatus.

In all other respects, this experiment was conducted as described in Example 1. The results are shown graphically in FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 9, the deposit thickness reached a maximum thickness of about 0.31 .mu.m on slice 7 at about 126 mm down the length of the tube. At this same distance down the tube, slice 1 only showed a maximum thickness of about 0.21 .mu.m. As further shown in FIG. 9, the thickness of slice 1 changed from about 0.12 .mu.m at about 106 mm down the tube to about 0.07 .mu.m at about 108 mm down the tube. The thickness of slice 1 also changed from about 0.21 .mu.m at about 126 mm down the tube to about 0.13 .mu.m at about 127 mm down the tube.

These examples show that significant differences can be observed in the thickness of the deposit on the tube at different points on the circumference of the tube. This illustrates the need for scanning the entire surface of the tube, not just a single longitudinal slice, to get accurate information on the thickness and volume of films deposited on JFTOT heater tubes. These examples also show that significant features in the thickness profile along a slice of a tube may be missed without a highly accurate method for positioning the optical probe and analyzing the data from the probe.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. For instance, an obvious modification of the invention would be to a polychromatic light source and to filter the reflected light so that only a single wavelength of reflected light is measured. Another obvious modification of the invention would be to perform iterative scans about the circumference of the tube, and advancing the probe along the length of the tube after each circumferential scan. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. ##SPC1##

Claims

1. A device for measuring the thickness and volume of a deposit on a heater tube having a long axis and a circumference, comprising:

(a) an optical probe wherein said probe is aimed at the tube;

(b) a light source, optically coupled to said probe;

(c) a detector of reflected light, for detecting reflected light of a predetermined wavelength, optically coupled to said probe;

(d) means for longitudinally translating said optical probe, parallel to the long axis of the tube, thereby longitudinally traversing the tube;

(e) means for axially rotating the tube about its long axis;

(f) means for computing the thickness and volume of the deposit on the tube in accordance with the equations: ##EQU5## where t is the thickness of the deposit at a point on the tube, m is the thickness multiplier,.lambda. is the wavelength of the detected light, n is the refractive index of the deposit, and.theta. is the angle at which the source optics are oriented with respect to the heater tube, and ##EQU6## where V.sub.slice is the volume of the deposit on a longitudinal traversal of the tube, A is the area under the thickness profile along the tube, L is the length of the tube, r is the radius of the tube, and d is the number of longitudinal traversals around the tube circumference.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said light source is capable of producing essentially monochromatic light in the wavelength range from about 300 nm to about 600 nm.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said light source comprises a filtered xenon arc lamp, wherein said filter selectively transmits light within a wavelength band centered at about 460 nm.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein said means for translating comprises a stepper motor linked to a zero-backlash leadscrew assembly, wherein said optical probe is mounted on said leadscrew assembly, and wherein said means for rotating comprises a stepper motor mechanically coupled to the tube.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein said means for computing said thickness and volume of the deposit further comprises means for fitting measured deposit thicknesses along the tube to a cubic spline curve.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein said means for computing the thickness and volume of the deposit on the tube further comprises means for identifying peaks in the detected intensity of reflected light and means for correlating these peaks to longitudinal positions on the tube, wherein said means for identifying peaks in the detected intensity of reflected light further comprises:

(a) means for determining the first derivative dI/dx of the variations in the intensity of light, where I is the intensity of the reflected light and x is the position of said probe along the length of the tube;

(b) means for comparing the first derivative data to predetermined upper and lower thresholds, and labelling as possible peaks all the points along said longitudinal traversal of the tube that correspond to local maxima and minima in the first derivative data that are outside said upper and lower thresholds;

(c) means for comparing the widths of said local maxima and minima in the first derivative data that correspond with labelled possible peaks to a predetermined maximum width threshold and a predetermined minimum width threshold, and labelling as peaks all labelled possible peaks that correspond to local maxima and minima in the first derivative data that are neither wider than the maximum width threshold nor narrower than the minimum width threshold.

7. The device of claim 6 further comprising:

(a) means for prompting an operator with the labelled peaks;

(b) means for receiving input from the operator;

(c) adding or removing labelled peaks, based upon said input.

8. The device of claim 7 further comprising means for identifying a point of maximum deposit thickness on a longitudinal traversal of the tube, wherein said means for identifying a point of maximum deposit thickness on a longitudinal traversal of the tube further comprises:

(a) means for computing a moving average of reflected light intensity from the first peak to the last peak on the longitudinal traversal, whereby the data from the first peak to the last peak is smoothed;

(b) means for identifying a minimum intensity point along this moving average curve, and labelling said minimum intensity point as the point of maximum deposit thickness on the longitudinal traversal.

9. The device of claim 7, further comprising means for identifying points of maximum deposit thickness on a longitudinal traversal of the tube, wherein said means for identifying points of maximum deposit thickness on a longitudinal traversal of the tube further comprises:

(a) means for computing a moving average of the reflected light intensity from the first peak to the last peak on the longitudinal traversal, whereby the data from the first peak to the last peak is smoothed;

(b) means for identifying the minimum intensity point along this moving average curve, and labelling the peak located at or immediately preceding this point as a first point of maximum deposit thickness on the traversal;

(c) means for labelling the peak immediately following said point of maximum deposit thickness as a second point of maximum deposit thickness in the case where said first point of maximum deposit thickness and said second point of maximum deposit thickness are separated by more than a predetermined distance on the tube.

10. A method for measuring the thickness and volume of a deposit on a heater tube comprising:

(a) producing light;

(b) transmitting said light to an optical probe for transmission onto and from the tube, wherein said probe is optically coupled to a light detector and wherein said probe is aimed at the tube;

(c) measuring the intensity of light of a predetermined wavelength reflected from said tube;

(d) concurrently with measuring reflected light, translating said optical probe along the length of the tube from a starting position to an ending position, returning the probe to its original position, rotating the tube by a predetermined distance, and repeating this translation and rotation cycle until the tube has been rotated at least 360.degree.;

(e) identifying peaks in the measured intensity of reflected light, and correlating these peaks to their longitudinal position on the tube, so that there is a first peak and a last peak on each longitudinal traversal of the tube;

(f) computing the thickness of the deposit at each of said peaks in a longitudinal traversal of the tube, thereby generating the deposit thickness profile for a longitudinal traversal of the tube;

(g) computing from said deposit thickness profile the deposit volume for a longitudinal traversal of the tube;

(h) summing the deposit volumes for the longitudinal traversals of tube, thereby calculating the total deposit volume on the tube.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said light produced in step (a) is essentially monochromatic light in the wavelength range from about 300 nm to about 600 nm.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said light is produced by a filtered xenon arc lamp and has a narrow wavelength band centered at about 460 nm.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said rotation of the tube is carried out by a stepper motor, and wherein said translation of said optical probe is carried out by a stepper motor linked to a zero-backlash leadscrew assembly.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of computing the thickness of the deposit at each of said peaks in a longitudinal traversal of the tube, thereby generating the deposit thickness profile for a longitudinal traversal of the tube, is carried out according to the equation: ##EQU7## where t is the thickness of the deposit at a point on the tube, m is the thickness multiplier,.lambda. is the wavelength of the detected reflected light, n is the refractive index of the deposit, and.theta. is the angle at which the source optics are oriented with respect to the heater tube.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of computing the thickness of the deposit at each of said peaks in a longitudinal traversal of the tube, thereby generating the deposit thickness profile for a longitudinal traversal of the tube, further comprises fitting measured deposit thicknesses along the tube to a cubic spline curve.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of computing from said deposit thickness profile the deposit volume for a longitudinal traversal of the tube is carried out according to the equation: ##EQU8## where V.sub.slice is the volume of the deposit on a longitudinal traversal of the tube, r is the radius of the tube, A is the area under the thickness profile along the tube, which is computed by numerical integration under the deposit thickness profile, L is the length of the tube and d is the number of longitudinal traversals of the tube.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of identifying peaks further comprises:

(a) determining the first derivative dI/dx of the variations in the intensity of reflected light, where I is the intensity of the reflected light and x is the position of said probe along the length of the tube;

(b) comparing the first derivative data to predetermined upper and lower thresholds, and labelling as possible peaks all the points along the tube that correspond to local maxima and minima in the first derivative data that are outside these thresholds;

(c) comparing the widths of said local maxima and minima in the first derivative data that correspond to labelled possible peaks to predetermined width thresholds, and labelling as peaks all labelled possible peaks that correspond to local maxima and minima in the first derivative data that are neither wider than the maximum width threshold nor narrower than the minimum width threshold.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

(a) prompting an operator with the labelled peaks;

(b) receiving input from the operator;

(c) adding or removing labelled peaks, based upon said input.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising identifying a point of maximum deposit thickness on a longitudinal traversal of the tube, wherein the step of identifying a point of maximum deposit thickness on a longitudinal traversal of the tube further comprises:

(a) computing a moving average of reflected light intensity from the acquired data from the first peak to the last peak on the longitudinal traversal, thereby smoothing the data from the first peak to the last peak;

(b) identifying a minimum intensity point along this moving average curve, and labelling this point as a point of maximum deposit thickness on the longitudinal traversal.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of identifying points of maximum deposit thickness on a longitudinal traversal of the tube, wherein the step of identifying points of maximum deposit thickness on a longitudinal traversal of the tube further comprises the steps of:

(a) computing a moving average of the reflected light intensity from the first peak to the last peak on the longitudinal traversal, whereby the data from the first peak to the last peak is smoothed;

(b) identifying a minimum intensity point along this moving average curve, and labelling a peak located at or immediately preceding this point as a first point of maximum deposit thickness on the longitudinal traversal;

(c) labelling the peak immediately following said point of maximum deposit thickness as a second point of maximum deposit thickness in the case where said first point of maximum deposit thickness and said second point of maximum deposit thickness are separated by more than a predetermined distance on the tube.